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There are 2 replies in this Thread. The last Post (Apr 26th 2013, 8:48am) by alamo221.

The Virginian (1929)

Plot Summary
Molly Wood arrives in a small western town to be the new schoolmarm.
The Virginian, foreman on a local ranch, and Steve, his best fiend,
soon become rivals for her affection.
Steve falls in with bad guys led by Trampas, and the Virginian catches him cattle rustling.
As foreman, he must give the order to hang his friend. Trampas gets away,
but returns in time for the obligatory climactic shootout in the streets.
Written by John Oswalt

Trivia
As in the novel and the play that the movie is based on, the Virginian's name is never mentioned.

The original play by Owen Wister and Kirk La Shelle opened in New York on 5 January 1904.

Gary Cooper's first all-talking film. He felt that sound would ruin him, believing his voice
wasn't adequate to the task. Yet, it was "The Virginian" that turned him
from a promising young leading man into a full-fledged star.

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949,
which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution,
and have been owned and controlled by MCA ever since.

Future western movie icon Randolph Scott, from Virginia,
was hired as a dialect coach to teach Gary Cooper a Virginia accent,
and also has a small non-speaking part in the film.

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on November 2, 1936
with Gary Cooper reprising his film role.

GoofsMiscellaneous
Although the story spans the late 1870's through the early 1880's,
Molly refers to her grandfather being killed in the Cherry Valley Massacre.
As that took place in 1778, at least 100 years earlier, that seems highly unlikel

Re: (New Review) Classic Movie Westerns- The Virginian (1929)

The Virginian is a 1929 Western film directed by Victor Fleming
and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, and Richard Arlen.

Based on the 1902 novel The Virginian by Owen Wister, the film is about a good-natured cowboy
who romances the new schoolmarm and has a crisis of conscience
when he learns his best friend is involved in cattle rustling.

The film is well known for Cooper's line, "If you wanna call me that—smile,"
in response to a cuss by the antagonist.

Look out for Duke 'Pals'Jack Pennick as a Slim - Box H Hand (uncredited)
andRandolph Scott as a Rider (uncredited)

Future western movie icon Randolph Scott, from Virginia,
was hired as a dialect coach to teach Gary Cooper a Virginia accent,
and also has a small non-speaking part in the film.

User Review

early archetypal western
8 June 1999 | by kaplan79 (colorado springs, CO)
"The Virginian" is one of the first well-known western "talkies."
Released in 1929 and starring Gary Cooper who later became one of the great heroes of the western genre,
this movie contains all of the archetypal elements of classic western films.
There is a lone hero who answers to his own moral code defined by his environment(the frontier).
A "schoolmarm" from out East comes to civilize the West through education,
and her values come into conflict with the hero she falls in love with.
And there is a villain who abides by no moral code, who must be defeated by the hero
to uphold his honor and his values.

The classic representations of good and evil through black and white are used extensively
and effectively in this film. Cooper always wears white, the villain(Huston) always wears black.
However, the most morally ambiguous character, Cooper's friend Steve,
always wears a mixture of the colors, and as he continues down a dark path,
his colors become darker and less ambivalent.

This is a pretty good movie, particularly the hanging scene, the shootout at the end,
and basically any interaction between Cooper and Huston. What makes the movie
even more entertaining and fascinating to watch is its context.
This movie is considered to be one of the very first westerns to represent
the classic elements of the western genre, and its influence on later westerns is quite clear.
For film students and fans of the western genre alike,
this is a fun film to watch and thoroughly enjoyable.
(Note: very interesting comparisons can be made to later westerns,
particularly "Shane" and another Cooper film, "High Noon")

Best WishesKeithLondon- England

The post was edited 1 time, last by ethanedwards (Feb 7th 2017, 2:44pm).

Re: (New Review) Classic Movie Westerns- The Virginian (1929)

Nice review-can't say I agre with it tho, but it's been a bit over 30 years since I saw the film. It was 1980, I was with my wife at the hospital awaiting the birth of out 1st child. The TV in her room only had one station-WGN out of Chicago-no cable then. At 1am, the 1929 Virginian came on. Watching it, I felt I was the one going thru labor! Maybe now I'd feel differently, but back then it bored the heck out of me.